I Would Kill For You
by Kaline Reine
Summary: (This is a Skyrim OC fanfic drabble, written for the Let's Play Contest on DA. Minor content warning for violence, rated M to be safe.) Her story is a sad one... Poor Svari's parents keep her locked away in the basement in a cage. Of all the vile things Caela has ever heard of, this was perhaps the most vile. She knows she must come to the girl's aid, before it's too late.


**I Would Kill For You**  
**by Kaline Reine**

**This was written for the Let's Play Contest on DA. In case it wasn't obvious, I chose to base my entry on Skyrim. I am hopelessly addicted to this game! This is an OC fic. **

**Disclaimer: Caela is the only character in this that is mine, the rest belongs to Skyrim/Bethesda, including her race. I always play Khajiits because I relate to them more than any of the other races and I need to be able to connect with my character when I play. Sorry not sorry. x'D**

**(*Content Warning* for implied child abuse and slight gore.)**

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**Part 1: **

Her story is a sad one...

The Khajiit's keen ears pick up on strange faint sounds coming from one of the houses, as she wanders aimlessly through the town of Solitude. _'There it is again... A child's cry.' _She is uncertain as to who lives there, but uncertainty has never stopped her before.

Caela rushes straight for the source, her spotted ears perking up, on high alert. Almost instantly, she is greeted by a humbling sight. A woman, old and gray with age, covered in wrinkles and liver spots, and dressed in rags. Greta comes out to greet her, briefly... She assures her that nothing is wrong and then sends her on her way.

_'Hm. Curious.'_

Clearly, she had to have been hearing things.

Tentatively, she takes her leave, thinking herself mistaken about hearing a child... Until the silver-tongued feline manages to glean a bit of information from the townsfolk about that particular family. Specifically about how Greta had once had a daughter but no one had seen her much since Addvar, her new husband, had shown up. Odder still that anyone would deign to marry a woman like Greta, but that is neither here nor there.

She needs more information. Caela makes her way into the marketplace where she's been told Addvar has a seafood stall. After all, a Khajiit seeking to buy fresh fish is nothing outside the ordinary. She doesn't spot anything inherently off about him, save for one thing. Gleaming like her four golden hoop earrings in the light, a single key hangs from his belt. While perusing the market, she casually brings it up with him, only to be told that it's his house key. There is just one problem...

Caela recognizes that key. It is in fact a cage key. The locking mechanisms varied greatly, and as a pickpocket, she knows the difference. She also does not recall hearing Greta undo any locks before opening the door to her earlier. But she doesn't insist upon any of this to the grisly brown haired fisherman. It's pointless.

A lie is most often an admission of guilt. In fact, it is the easiest tell.

Something inside of her has already snapped.

First she must wait until night time. Swiftly, silently, she follows Addvar on his way home from work, after he's closed up shop. He takes an alleyway, his usual shortcut. Jaded from what he believes to be an ordinary day, he doesn't even see it coming. The snarling feline slinks from out of the shadows just behind him. He is only alerted to her presence when the battle axe pierces his chest from behind and a thousand glittering rubies spill from it, cascading onto the cobblestone path.

It isn't the first time blood has been spilled in Solitude... Something that Addvar himself knew all too well when his brother Roggvir was publicly executed for aiding Ulfric Stormcloak's escape. But that's a subject which so few talk about anymore. She'd had the misfortune to witness it as soon as she'd arrived in Solitude.

Shaking away the memories, she slips the cage key from his belt. There is no need to dispose of the body. Certainly someone will find him and begin searching for the murderer. Or in this case, murderess. Not that anyone will know, as there are no witnesses. He'd scarcely had a chance to even cry out, the echoes of his agony swallowed by eerie moonlight.

It cannot be a surprise for Greta to see the same Khajiit with the long auburn braids back at her door this ominously cold night. Nor when she forces her way in, killing her swiftly. It doesn't matter if her face is recognized. The blood splattered across the floorboards and walls after her vicious bludgeoning with the same deadly weapon that killed her husband only minutes ago will not tell a single soul...

Needing to be unseen, Caela now puts on the opaque executioner's hood she'd managed to procure during her recruitment into The Dark Brotherhood. She'd gained it when she had made her first kill for them, at Astrid's insistence, but that is a tale for another time. The color of midnight, it matches her soul. It's been a long time since she has killed for her own reasons.

Faceless, she ventures into the basement, hearing the same pitiful cries from before. A girl with straw-like platinum blonde hair and a cherubic but badly bruised face awaits her, shying away when she catches sight of her strange rescuer.

"What is your name?" She croons.

"Who are you? Please d-don't hurt me, I didn't do anything!" She wails, in between sad little sobs.

"It doesn't matter. I won't hurt you... I would do anything for you. And soon you will be free. Tell me your name, little one."

The girl doesn't seem to know why, but she tells her. "Svari."

The stranger then wordlessly tosses the key down to her with a slight nod. It slides across the basement floor, and soon Svari holds the key to her own cage. Before she can figure out what's happened and unlock the cruel crate that holds her prisoner, the hooded figure is gone.

Caela is no fool. She knows full well that if she takes the child from here, she will be arrested for murder once it's discovered that Svari is living with her. They'll accuse her of committing the crimes to gain a child of her own. But she does have great plans for her. Knowing she'll be taken to Honorhall Orphanage in Riften, just like every other parentless child, she will adopt Svari the legal way. Then she can ensure that no harm will ever come to her again.

She takes one last look at Solitude, her deadly orange eyes glowing... And vanishes. 

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**Author Notes: I used one of my Skyrim OCs (Caela). This is part of the backstory that I made up for her (I seriously love the freedom and creativity Skyrim lets you have with your characters) and I've woven in quite a few different quest lines for this. And yes, you really have to kill her parents to adopt Svari in the game if you have the Hearthfire DLC. I embellished the parts about her being kept in a cage for plot reasons, but in game Addvar really does have a cage key instead of a house key if you try to pickpocket him and somehow he's the only character like that in Skyrim. :o So I wanted to add more depth and come up with a reason for such an odd and random thing, and that's how this little piece of fiction came to be. **

**I'm not really the best at keeping things short, so I usually don't write drabbles, but this was a fun challenge for me. The wordcount limit was 1,000 and this is 979 words, so I cut it pretty close. ;o; It's so hard for me to shut up! xD**

**I might write a sort of sequel if this does well enough, I have plans for one. I hope you like it and thanks so much for reading! :3**

**-Kaline**


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